FNA July / August Newsletter

Read about Discovery Day, our 2012 Robert F. Betz intern, and the recent release of Baltimore Checkerspots at Fermilab in the latest edition of the Fermilab Natural Areas newsletter!

September/October Newsletter Published

The FNA September/October newsletter is published and available online.  If you are interested being added to our mailing list, please send email to FNA.





Field Trip: Indian Boundary Prairies

from our summer restoration folk:

On Friday, June 25th, five of us, Ryan Campbell, Julie Allen, Jessica Meyers, Kevin Sheehan and Mike Beck, went to visit remnant prairies in Markham, Illinois.  Referred to as the Indian Boundary Prairies or Gensberg-Markham, the lands are owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy, Northeastern Illinois University and the Natural Land Institute. Two of the stewards shared some history as well as their current management efforts. This was an excellent opportunity for us to see what a restored remnant prairie looks like, and to compare and contrast it to our prairies at Fermilab.

With their permission, we collected Wild Onion, Prairie Panic Grass, and some different carex species. We were all surprised by the extremely high level of plant diversity, which caused average plant height to be much shorter than we see at Fermilab. The most exciting point of the day was when we came across a federally endangered White Fringed Orchid (pictured above), just finishing its bloom. The manager and naturalist of the site Ron Panzer was not surprised: “We got tons of them,” he said.  In addition, the site is known for its insect diversity, such as the Aphrodite butterfly. The prairie is open to the public and well worth the visit.  More information is available online.

photo courtesy:  Julie Allen

Summer Plans for the Betz intern

FNA's 2010 Robert F. Betz intern Jessica Meyers started working in late May and many tasks await, including a large variety of scientific and "on the ground" ecological restoration work. Several small studies will be implemented with Fermilab's consulting ecologist, Ryan Campbell, including determining best control of non-native brome grass in the bison savanna restoration, baseline tree density and herbaceous species composition in the Site 29 woodland, and collecting seed for the seed rate study.

Jessica's own research ideas are also be considered. Collection of native plant seed, learning to identify invasive, non-native plants, working with Fermilab's bird and butterfly monitors, and helping volunteers with aquatic surveys and other projects are part of the experience. We'll post blog updates from our 2010 Robert F. Betz intern in early summer.

Photo courtesy:  Fermilab Visual Media Services, August 2009,
Baltimore Checkerspot release at Fermilab

Upcoming Volunteer Workday

On Monday, August 10 at 9 a.m., volunteers will meet at the Fermilab Science Education Center. Courtney & Julie will coordinate the collection of dark green bulrush (Carex annectens and Carex lanuginosa).

Summer Activities: Plant Maintenance & Enrichment

Courtney & Julie have also been helping fight off reed canary grass:

Prairie Cord Grass plugs were transplanted around 2 different Reed Canary Grass patches to see if Prairie Cord Grass would be a good, natural competitor to minimize the spread of Reed Canary Grass. The perimeter of the patch as well as each Prairie Cord Grass plug location were recorded with the GPS so the patches can be monitored in the future.

Teasel heads were cut off and plants were sprayed with herbicide to prevent their further spread.

Photo: reed canary grass; orange tape represents plantings of cord grass; cord grass pictured below.

Summer Activities: GPS Documentation

Another post from Courtney & Julie:

We pollinated and took GPS locations of Michigan Lilies around the site (on left). We will go back in the fall to collect some seed pods from these plants so they can be spread into new areas.

Turtlehead populations have been counted and GPS coordinates have been recorded so some butterflies that feed on turtleheads can be acquired from the Peggy Notebaert Museum.

GPS locations of blooming species have also been recorded throughout the summer so they can be found and seed collected later in the season. The GPS coordinates will also aid in finding these species in the upcoming years.

Summer Activities: Seed Collecting

(A post from Courtney Gill, 2009 Robert F. Betz Intern, and Julie Allen. Courtney & Julie have been busy all summer with various restoration activities, from seed collection and pollination to GPS documentation of species location.)

Recent species we've been collecting include prairie sundrops, meadow anemone, white wild indigo, belwort, white baneberry, jewelweed, broad-leaved puccoon, white trillium, pale-spike lobelia, marsh vetchling, smooth yellow violets, indian plantain and some sedges.


Thank you to the volunteers who have helped us collect bicknell's sedge, spiderwort and red bulrush this summer!

Pictured, left to right:

Courtney, Mohammad, Nino, Julie, Josh, Judy, Jacques